Middle ear diseases in cleft palate patients in Singapore

A preliminary prospective study of the correlation between middle ear diseases and cleft palate was started in February 1987. Eighty three patients from the Plastic Surgical Department of the Singapore General Hospital have been screened. Three quarters of the ears screened were normal. Middle ear effusion was the commonest disease especially in younger children found in eighteen of thirty four abnormal ears; all these patients benefited from myringotomy and insertion of a ventilating tube. Other types of middle ear disease included adhesive otitis media, perforation of the eardrum, attic retraction and cholesteatoma; these were found predominantly in older patients. The incidence of middle ear disease was 23% in Chinese patients with cleft palate as compared with up to 90% in Caucasian patients.